Research Methods for Strategic Managers

Introduction to Research Methods

In modern era, social media emerged as one of the biggest and most potential platform to advertise and market products and services. Now a days most of the business have stared using social media such as Facebook and Twitter as marketing tools. On the other hand, the competition among business has become so intense that businesses are required to retain their customers. In present scenario organizations seeks for the ways through which they can enhance their customers base and manage relationship with customers. This research will reflective how the use of social media can help in developing better relationship with all customers.

Samsung is one of the leading manufacturer of smartphone in current market. Samsung is facing tough competition from Apple. Further both these brands have emerged as biggest rivals of each other. In order to maintain its existing market share and customer base, Samsung Mobile is required to make sure that it develops effective relationship with all its customers. This report will focus on whether or not it possible for Samsung to improve Customer Relationship Management using social media.

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Conduct research to find literature review relevant to research question

In the present era, the competition among business in mobile industry is increasing at a very good pace. It can be stated that with the increase in users of mobile phone, the companies operating in this industry has also increased to a great extent (Nambisan and Baron, 2007). Nowadays companies such as Samsung, Microsoft, Apple etc. are seeking for different ways through which they can build strong relationship with their customers in order to retain them. In every two or three months, a new model is launched with improved design and upgraded technology. This means that businesses in this industry are required to maintain good relationship with their customers in order to understand their need and demand (Kim and Ko, 2012). In this context, social media has emerged as one of the most potential for businesses to interact with their customers. Further with the help of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, brands are able to make people aware about upcoming models, their features, new offers etc.

Significance and benefits of using social media in customer relationship management

Customer relationship management (CRM) can be defined as the action plan and strategies which organization implement in order to interact with customers and analyze their need and demand. One of the main aim behind using CRM strategies to build and enhance business relation with all customers. As per the view of Sashi, (2012) customer relationship management is not only considered as a pure business but it is one of the most effective technique for developing personal bond with people in the market. Establishment of such kind of bond drives a business to new heights of growth and success. However Jansen and et. al., (2009) argued that bond between customers and company is important because it helps in understating the actual need a demand of people in market. Majority of the time businesses fail because they are not able to cope up with changing need and preferences of customers. This is one of the major reason regarding why businesses are now eager to developed effective and efficient strategies (Gupta and Lehmann, 2005).

The use of CRM tool can help organizations to get become more visible in terms of their client base. Kim and Srivastava, (2007) has explained that with social media can be termed as very effective tool in customer relationship management. Nowadays businesses can create their official page on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This can help companies to tackle some of the most important factors such as decline of sales and rate of customer turnover. On the other side of this De Vries, Gensler and Leeflang, (2012) has asserted that it is not an easy task for manager to develop a good bond and relationship with all their customers. Customer in modern era, are able with lot of choices and alternatives which means that it is very difficult for a business enterprise to gain loyalty for them (Ngai, 2005). If the people in market find any fault in products or services then they switch to the products and services which are offered by other market players. For instance, if the product is not available on time then, customers are encouraged to choose and use the other alternatives available in marketplace.

One of the most important benefits of using social media in customer relationship management is that it is very cost effective. According to Rust and Chung, (2006) business are not required to bear additional cost at the time of using social media. By adding social media channels in existing CRM practises, companies can easily lead in market with the new information which can be gained from social media. However Lin and Lee, (2005) argued that at the time of interacting with customer through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter also helps businesses to respond quickly to the changing need and demand. Further with the help of publishing tweets, new post on Facebook and videos on YouTube at regular interval, organizations can easily create a strong bond with the people in market.

As per the view of Lin and Lee, (2005) social CRM nowadays matter because it supports companies in getting aware of what other people are discussing, complaining and giving reviews about a particular company. One of the major reason behind the development of strong bond between customers is that interacting with customers helps in creating sense of satisfaction among people as they started to perceive that business are really taking care of them. On the other side of this, Aula, (2010) has argued that, people tell companies that what kind of changes or modification thy want in existing products or services. The use of social networking sites as integrate the communication to various aspects associated with maintaining a strong relation with customers. in addition to this, there are several benefits of effective bond between company and all its customers (Libai and et. al., 2010). One of the major advantage is that it enhances the degree of client loyalty. This results in increasing sales and profitability of business for long run (Hoffman and Fodor 2010). Organization are also able to gain competitive advantage with the help of social CRM practises as their customers do not switch to any other brands available in the marketplace. Along with this, use of social media in customer relationship management also supports companies to get all the new notifications at one particular place. Another benefit of social CRM is that it helps businesses to get aware of the online behaviour of people in market. Evans and Davis, (2005) has asserted that it has become very important for organizations to understand behaviour of people within market. This helps business to get aware of the changing market trends and needs of customers.

Techniques used to interpret data in research proposal

Technique use with quantitative data

Data collection is termed as the process in which a researcher gathers information from various sources. Selecting suitable sources helps in getting more accurate and reliable data regarding the topic under investigation. Quantitative data will be collected with the help of questionnaire method which is in form of primary data and it will be collected by employee of Samsung with regards to the use of social media to improve customer relationship management.

Data analysis is termed as the process in which a researcher evaluates the information which he/she collects from various sources. Quantitative techniques of data analysis will be used in this research. Statistical and mathematical tools such as Excel will be used to analyse the information in quantitative manner. It can be stated that using quantitative technique, the researcher will be able to get more accurate and suitable findings.

Technique use with qualitative data

Qualitative data will also be used in the research and for this various secondary sources such as books, journals and online sources will be also taken into consideration in order to carry out this study in effective manner. Technique of qualitative of data analysis will also be used in this research. In qualitative technique the information will be evaluated by developing various themes. On the basis of which the impact on social media in enhancing customer relationship management will be determined. The rationale behind using both primary and secondary sources is that it will help in collecting more reliable and accurate data.

Appropriate methodology to reseacrh question

Appropriate research methodologies in terms of research question

It is the section of research that consist of the tools and techniques which has been[Will be used] used to carry out a research. Using right methodologies helps in obtaining the best possible results for any study. On the basis of this section, the impact on social media in enhancing customer relationship management will be analysed. The tools and techniques which will be used in this research is mentioned below as:

Research philosophy: Positivism and intrepretivism are the two main type of research philosophies which are used in carrying out a study. Selection of this philosophies is based on the nature of research (Miller And Birch, 2012).

Research approach: Research approach is defined as the plan of actions or strategies which is used to accomplish the aim and objectives of a study (Kothari, 2011). Further inductive and deductive are the two main approaches of research.

Research design: Research design depicts the framework used to carry out a research and attain its objectives (Chapman and McNeill, 2004). There are various kind of research design such as exploratory, descriptive, casual, cause and effect, experimental etc.

Research type: Qualitative and quantitative are the two common type of research which are used to carry out a study.

Choose an appropriate methodology

Research philosophy: In the present study, intrepretivism philosophy will be used to understand the use of social media to improve customer relationship management.

Research approach: In the present study, deductive approach will be used as more specific information will be required in context of use of social media to improve customer relationship management.

Research design: In context of the present study, descriptive design will be used as the researcher aims at determining the impact of social media on customer relationship management.

Research type: The present research will be carried out in both the above stated types. In this research, numeric and non-numeric data will be present.

Justification of methodology

It can be stated that the selected research methodologies will be more suitable and appropriate in order to address the questions of research. The questions is this study to understand what is the significance and benefit of using social media in customer relationship management. The selected methodologies will help research to obtain more accurate and reliable information regarding the impact of social media on customer relationship management. Using both the sources of data collection will help the scholar to get more specific and accurate results regarding the topic under investigations. The entire part of research methodologies has been selected after carrying out in depth analysis of the entire study. Therefore, it can be stated that the methodologies chosen will help in answering all questions of this study in best possible manner.

Research philosophy: One of the main reason behind choosing intrepretivism philosophy is that it will help in exploring what kind of impact does use of social media have on customer relationship practises of Samsung.

Research approach: The rationale behind using deductive approach is that it will assist in getting more specific information with regards to the topic under investigation. On the other, inductive approach will not be used because it will provide more generalized information which is not suitable for this study.

Research design: Descriptive design will help the scholar to understand and describe the various elements associated with the study.

Research type: Qualitative technique will be used to present non-numeric data and quantitative technique will be used to present numeric data.

Presenting the findings of a research proposal

Recording findings on research question, literature review and methodology

From the above literature review, it has been found that social media is playing very important role[Your finding should support literature review and methodology] in enhancing customer relationship management of organizations. Along with the increase in number of user of mobile phones, the competition among businesses in mobile industry as also increased to a great extent. It is not easy for companies such as Samsung, Apple , Microsoft to retain their customers in long run. Nowadays people in market are made available with large alternative available. This means a single mistake from one company can encourage all its loyal customers to use the products and services provided by other market players. One of the main element which can helps the companies in mobile market to retain their customers is by developing and maintaining good relationship with them. It has been analysed that the growing use of social media has provided organizations with an very effective platform to communicate with all their customers. The integration of social media with practices of customer relationship management can help business enterprise to achieve new heights of success.

Summarizing findings

From the above literature review it can be analysed that effective use of CRM practices allows organizations to develop effective bond with their customers. Further they are able to understand and meet the demand of people in market in more effective manner. Nowadays organizations seek for various kinds of ways through which they can communicate with customers. One of the main reason why companies are putting more efforts on interacting with all their consumers is to develop good relationship with them. In the modern era, organizations are required to reflect the fact that they are really taking care of their customers. It has been observed that one of the best way to increase customer loyalty is by satisfying their need and demand. In the present scenario, the major problem associated with business enterprise is to respond quickly to the ever changing need and demand of people in society. This is reason why companies have started focusing on effective CRM practices. The integration of social media in customer relationship management results in enhancing CRM practices and results in development of Social customer relationship management (SCRM).

Presenting findings using suitable methods

The social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter has developed as some of the most powerful tools for organization in order to interact with all their customers. The reason why SCRM is considered as one of the most powerful tool to developed strong relationship with customers is that it is very cost effective. There is no as such addition cost which incur for business enterprise at the time of using social media for business purpose. Companies can easily find majority of their customers on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. SCRM can be implemented in different kind of ways and method. One of the best among those is that businesses can create their official accounts on the above mentioned social networking sites. Further companies can post advertisement of their new products and services on these sites. The benefit of this is that instant feedback and reviews can be gathered form people.

Critically analyse the findings

It has been analysed that people do not have any kind of hesitation at the time of commenting on social networking sites. This means businesses can rapidly get fast positive and negative reviews about their new products. Organizations can work upon these feedbacks and can make major changes as per the requirement of people in market. Now a days business enterprise are required to increases their social gathering with all their customers. It can help organizations to become aware of what other people are talking and discussing about them. When companies operating at global level interact with its customers with the help of tools such as Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and corporate blogs, a sense of satisfaction is developed among them. Further they starts perceiving the fact that the organization form whom they are buying products and services is really taking care of them. Sales and profitability of businesses are the two major factors which gets affected by the use of social media in CRM practices. From the above literature review it can be concluded that customer relationship management allows companies to increase loyalty of all their customers. This encourages people in market to buy products and services of one particular firm irrespective of what other players in market are offering. For instance brand such as Samsung is using SCRM practices then majority of customers will encourage to purchase products and services of the brand.

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Limitations

As per the above research it can be said that use of secondary options has provided information about diverse factors which relates with the use social media in customer relationship management. The research has gained adequate amount of information by using various kinds of secondary sources but the present study also have various limitations. The scholar has only taken secondary data into consideration that means the findings may not be new and upgraded . In the support of this, it can be said that the primary research method have better control on the research factors and it provides effective data collection. But the quality of secondary research may not have authenticity as sources of information may be questionable. It is not necessary that all secondary sources uses in research are valid. Other than this, it can also be said that use of secondary research means the outcome on the basis of previous research. It means the current research outcomes may not be upgraded as secondary sources does not provide latest information about factors. In the support of this, it can be said that secondary resources requires extra efforts to ensure validity and reliability of the information. Another limitation of current secondary research is that the secondary sources are often not presented as per needs and expectations of current research and its objectives. For example, the topic of current study was the use of Social Media to improve Customer Relationship Management but this research mostly demonstrates the impact of social media on customer relationship management practises adopted by organization. It may impact the validity and reliability of the research and influence outcome in negative manner.

However, if research data collected is not specific to the needs of research so an argument can be made that research spending is also not efficient. In other aspect, it is possible that researcher may not attained satisfactory amount of information for better outcome. In the support of above statement, it can be said that most of time researcher faces some issues in conduction of research due to incomplete information. It is possible that incomplete information among sources used can influence result of current research in negative manner. Data collected in secondary research may be collected as per past so the information can be out dated for current research. For example, the source of year 2005 has been used in research but the work culture of business organization has changed in great context. It may impact the final outcome in negative manner.

Further areas of research

There are number of other areas on which future researcher can be carried out. The present research was based on the use of social media on customer relationship management of organization. Further research can be carried out on topics such as role of social media in the growth and success of organization, impact of effective customer relationship management practise on sales and profitability of a company etc. other than this, further research can be also carried out on topics such impact on customer relationship management practises on brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. The present research was based on Mobile Company and therefore, same kind of research can be also carried out in future on sectors such as retail, banking etc.

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